We have a closet that smells bad. It didn't start out that way, it developed suddenly, when something died. More challenging, is how to make the closet stop smelling. I'm going to have to rewind to explain how we got to this point and how we're not that surprised or upset.
We have an "encapsulated crawl space" under the house, or the half of the house that isn't basement. By encapsulated, it means the space is relatively sealed in and is factored into the overall envelope of space for heating and cooling purposes. It doesn't mean you're heating and cooling extra space, it means that space is protected from the outside temperatures so the ambient temperature is closer to the inside of the house. Ultimately, it should be a cost savings, when implemented correctly.
It's a nice crawl space. It's lined with thick plastic over the gravel and it's clean because it doesn't get debris from outside blown in from vents we would otherwise have in a regular crawl space. Recently, we had a semi-annual maintenance service done on our HVAC systems and when we opened the internal door to the crawl space, we noticed a smell. And this wasn't the smell we now have in our closet. This was a rodent-like, fecal-ish smell that made us fairly confident there were little critters in our crawl space. Also, there was scat.
We had someone come and do two things at that point, first they swept out the debris all through the crawl space, much of which had been there since the house was constructed. There was a question on if the scat was old or new, because it was quite hard and dry, said the main from our insect treatment company. He also said that keeping out small mice is a very difficult proposition because they can wiggle through extremely small spaces.
But we wanted to make some sort of an effort to make it more difficult. As they were sweeping out the debris, they went around with spray foam and sealed up any small holes in the perimeter. And that went smoothly and we hoped the problem was over.
The thing is, they may have done a very good job, thus trapping a small animal in the crawl space. And it died. It may have died in the wall between the floor and the basement, but wherever it died, we can't see it or get to it. We can't really hone in on it other than the smell is strongest near the closet under the stairs. So, other than tearing up walls, we're going to have to wait for it to decompose and dessicate at which point the smell will fade.
Today is day four of the smelly closet and it is the best and least-stinky day yet. Hopefully that will be the last of the crawl space critter situation. We shall see.
The Big Boy Update: "There's the Christmas man." My son told daddy this the other night as he saw some Christmas decorations that included a Santa.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Hair spray. Okay, this hair thing is getting out of control. Her hair is so thin and fine that we want to keep what we can of it. She doesn't mind bows, but if they annoy her, she'll pull them out. Also, she rolls around so much that they sometimes just fall out on their own, taking strands of hair with them. She doesn't need anything, other than her hair is in her eyes. So today, I implemented, "operation hair spray". If we can spray it back for a while, just until it's long enough to get fully into a band, we'll be making progress.
Fitness Update: Non-stop cardio and core day at the gym. Our trainer was laughing at us as we were all failing at simple things that, done individually, should have been easy, but when it's the twenty-third thing you've done without stopping, makes you look like a wimp.
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